In automotive vehicles equipped with automatic transmissions, transmission oil is pooled in a sump located beneath the transmission and pumped to circulate through the transmission. If the vehicle is accelerated abruptly in one direction by cornering the vehicle hard, or by either accelerating the vehicle rapidly or braking the vehicle hard, transmission oil in the sump can shift completely away from a suction inlet before a circulation system of the automatic transmission which starves the system for transmission oil and causes the system to suck air. This adversely affects the responsiveness of the vehicle, as well as potentially damaging the automatic transmission.
This phenomenon can also be a problem with lubricating oil pans where accelerations due to rapidly changing direction can pull lubricating oil away from oil suction tubes.
This problem is exacerbated by engines which are mounted transverse to the normal direction of vehicle travel because the pans tend to be elongated in the transverse direction due to the structure of engine blocks in transmissions. While this phenomenon is a problem in land vehicles, it may also be a problem in boats, aircraft, construction machinery, and other devices and conveyances which move and change direction.
FIGS. 3 and 4 illustrate the difficulties of the prior art, with FIG. 3 showing liquid level at a suction tube inlet when a vehicle is traveling substantially in a straight line, while FIG. 4 illustrates what can happen to the level of liquid at the suction tube inlet when the vehicle is abruptly cornered.
In view of the aforementioned considerations, it is a feature of the present invention to provide a new and improved arrangement for sumps wherein liquid within the sumps is prevented from shifting away from the inlets of circulating systems due to acceleration of machinery with which the sumps are used.
In view of this feature, and other features, the present invention is directed to a sump arrangements for liquids circulating in a drive train of a vehicle wherein the sump arrangement comprises a sump pan having side walls and a horizontally extending floor. The sump pans includes a suction tube for returning liquid pooling on the floor of the sump to the drive train. A panel is disposed in the sump pan in spaced relation to the floor to divide the sump pan into a first chamber and a second chamber, the panel having an opening there through for connecting the two chambers and a panel extending transverse to the direction of the vehicle travel. A filter media is disposed in the opening so that liquid in the first chamber flows through the filter and pools in the second chamber for return to the drive train by the suction tube. A plurality of baffles are disposed in the second chamber to prevent rapid movement of the liquid toward the lateral sides of the sump pan whereby the suction tube retains a sufficient supply of liquid to continuously pump liquid to the drive train when acceleration forces tend to move the liquid away from the suction tube.
In a more specific aspect of the invention, the baffles are in the form of plates wherein the plates have openings adjacent thereto or therethrough, which allow normal flow of fluid past the baffles but discourage rapid lateral movement of the liquid in the sump away from the suction tube.
In a more specific aspect of the invention, the sump is defined by a transmission oil pan, and in still another aspect of the invention, the sump is defined by a lubricating oil pan.